Cries for more Afrikaans teachers at Westenburg High falls on deaf ears
While the department maintains there are not enough learners enrolled to be educated in Afrikaans, parents say that because of the non-availability of teachers, they had no choice but to enroll for tuition in English.
POLOKWANE – Disgruntled parents at Westenburg Secondary School blame the Department of Education for the poor performance of Afrikaans-speaking learners at the school.
Parents claim that their cries for more Afrikaans teachers have fallen on deaf ears. While the department maintains there are not enough learners enrolled to be educated in Afrikaans, parents say that because of the non-availability of teachers, they had no choice but to enroll for tuition in English.
The shortage of Afrikaans teachers at the school has been a problem since 2013. In August 2013, outraged parents locked the school gates for various reasons, including the shortage of Afrikaans teachers.
Read more: Teacher shortage is still a major issue
The department promised parents in several meetings with the School Governing Body (SGB) that more Afrikaans-speaking teachers would be appointed, but this never materialised.
“Our children are suffering, because they are not being taught in their mother tongue. This makes it difficult for them to understand the work, which is why they fail,” one frustrated parent said, adding that not all parents have the means to enroll their children in schools in the city where Afrikaans is offered as medium of instruction. The same government who in 1976 fought for learners to be taught in their mother tongue, is now taking away the right to have education in your mother tongue. Now the children of Westenburg have nowhere to go.” This, the parent said, was because the school started catering for learners from areas around Westenburg, who wanted to be taught in English.
A source at the school confirmed that the school is parallel medium, but due to low learner figures registered for Afrikaans and the shortage of teachers, teachers teach in English only.
“Because there is a shortage of Afrikaans- speaking teachers, learners had no choice but to switch to English, which impacts learner numbers.”
Another problem the school faces is the rationalisation and redeployment (R&R) of teachers, due to the number of teachers being more than the number of children at the school. The school, however, currently does not have teachers in commercial subjects, yet teachers are being transferred to other schools in the city.
“The department has no plan of action that will benefit our children. They are acting without thinking and our children are the ones who have to pay the price. Now with their redeployment, the school not only faces a shortage of Afrikaans teachers, but also a shortage of teachers in the economics stream. Why does the department not work smart and redeploy teachers inter-provincial, bringing teachers from other provinces like the Northern Cape for example to come here and teach our children in Afrikaans and send the English teachers to go teach that side?” one parent suggested.
Bettie Boom, Westenburg Secondary School Principal referred BONUS to the Department of Education for comment.
Westenburg Secondary School SGB Chairperson, Rowland Stander, confirmed that the governing body has been meeting with the department over these issues.
“We have not given up on Afrikaans at the school. We have had meetings and are awaiting feedback. We have also written a letter to the HOD on both issues. They will send a task team with representatives from the provincial and district department to investigate the matter and make recommendations,” Rowland explained.
He added that the department has tried to help with the shortage of Afrikaans teachers by availing three additional posts.
“We unfortunately can’t find people to fill these posts. The people who are qualified, the system rejects because they are teachers that have resigned from the department and therefore cannot be reappointed. We plead with the community, if they know of teachers from other provinces or teachers who recently graduated, to let the SGB know so these people can be approached or they can apply as these posts will become available,” Stander said.
Department of Education Spokesperson, Sam Makondo, said the department did not have any query from the SGB regarding the issues.
“The matter regarding dual medium at the school was long addressed as only a few learners would register for Afrikaans medium, for example six learners in a grade thereby making it difficult for the school to qualify for Afrikaans teachers. From 2018 learners opted for English classes on their own,” he explained.
On a question to Makondo on how the current situation possible infringed on learners’ constitutional right to mother tongue education, he said “we are not aware of any learners that are being discriminated against as in 2018 learners opted for English classes on their own. If there is a new matter altogether, it’s a matter that the department through the circuit and the district will look into.”
